Taliban Diplomacy

The Taliban has opened a new embassy-like office in Qatar ahead of peace talks that are supposed to begin soon. They are brutal dudes who all look a little rough, but I must say their embassy-in-exile is quite elegant. Flying the Taliban flag and posting a sign declaring them to be representatives from the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” enraged the still-official Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and threatened the entire peace process. So the Taliban took them down. They have obviously took a few notes on diplomacy from the West: You gotta play hardball before you sit down at the negotiating table.